Emmanuelle brushed her hand down his arm. “Congratulations, Elie. I hope she makes you very happy. I know you believe you can make this work.”
Dario’s dark brows drew together. “Won’t understand you in a million years, Elie. This complete stranger comes into your life. You don’t know a thing about her and you expect your marriage to work. Emme is one in a million. Maybe one in a billion. Odds could be even higher than that. Val is so fuckin’ lucky, he doesn’t even know how lucky he is.”
He stated his opinion without looking at Emmanuelle and he spoke in a flat, matter-of-fact tone. “I’m aware a man like me is never going to find a woman who can put up with my . . . proclivities.” He shrugged. “But then I don’t trust anyone enough to have more than an hour encounter with them and only on my terms, especially now that Valentino forced me to take over this idiotic role in the family. He’s only made my suspicious nature worse.”
“Your point being?” Elie said.
“You’re like me.”
Elie couldn’t deny it. Maybe he wasn’t exactly like Dario. He wasn’t nearly as dark. He didn’t know too many people who were. Dario had demons. Elie liked his way and he knew how to get it. He already knew he intended for his bride to learn that lesson about him very quickly. He’d been honest in every answer he’d given to the questions asked of him when filling out the pages and pages of very explicit material needed for his arranged marriage. He had her answers and she had his. She should know that about him and what he expected of her.
He had read her answers dozens of times and knew what she expected of him. He had her sexual answers laminated and put up on the master bedroom wall right over the bed to remind her of what she said so there were no mistakes. His were there beside hers. Supposedly he would be matched with the perfect compatible woman to give them the highest odds of a successful marriage. Divorce for shadow riders was nearly a death sentence. It would mean the end of shadow riding. He wouldn’t, for one moment, put up with that.
Shadow riders had a unique ability to utilize portals within shadows to travel from one place undetected to another. They were required to begin training as toddlers in order to acquire the necessary skills to become deadly assassins to mete out justice to the criminals who managed to escape the law.
“I might be a bit like you are, Dario,” Elie admitted. “She’ll have to learn to accept me. I bought us a house on the lake,” he added. “I spent so much time at your home with Val, Emme, that I started looking for a piece of property I wanted for myself. It took quite a long time to find the perfect place and I had to really negotiate with the owners to get it.” His eyes lit up when he referred to the negotiations. He’d had fun with that part of it.
“In other words, the property wasn’t on the market,” Emmanuelle interpreted.
“Exactly. And I wanted the property around it so I could make sure we were protected,” he added. “One stubborn old coot was a holdout. In the end he caved, but I paid more for his property than I did for the original one I wanted. The nice part was, he owned more actual land. The house I wanted came with a hundred feet of river frontage with two permanent docks. The old coot gave me an additional three hundred feet of river frontage with several additional docks. Plus, the property behind his place. His house needs work, but the property itself was worth every penny of the fortune I paid him.”
Berta, their waitress, came to their table looking a little harassed. Given that every table seemed to be filled and the long line of waiting customers, they couldn’t really blame her. “Anything else I can get you?”
“Place is hopping as usual,” Emmanuelle greeted. “Never slows down around here.”
Berta shook her head. “We’ve hired three more waiters. It’s that crazy. Still looking for someone else. I heard construction was finished and Masci’s Deli was back in business after the fire. Did your family keep the apartments above the deli? Are they looking for renters?”
“The deli’s open and running,” Emmanuelle said, “but the apartments aren’t quite finished. There’s only two of them, but we wanted to upgrade them. Signor Pietro needed Masci’s finished fast and we concentrated on his business first. The rentals should be finished soon. If you have someone in mind, have them fill out an application and make sure they put your recommendation on it so my cousin will flag it.”
“Thanks, Emme,” Berta said. “Where’s Val? I never see you without him.”
“On his way. He’ll want his usual ridiculous pizza and Elie hogged all the salami and olive pizza so we need another with double olives.”
Dario didn’t look up from his phone but pointed toward the empty antipasti plate. Emmanuelle rolled her eyes. “More antipasti as well. You might double up on the salami and olives there, too.”
Berta laughed. “All of you are going to turn into olives if you don’t watch out.”
“Wine,” Elie reminded. “Same as before.”
“Our family wine,” Emme added for clarity, indicating the bottle. “Same year. Same vineyard. It’s our favorite.”
“Got it.” Berta hurried away, shaking her head.
“Dario, how do you order if I’m not with you?” Emme demanded. She clearly was trying to sound exasperated but she sounded more amused than anything else.
He raised an eyebrow. “Val insists I have bodyguards. They’re practically useless. I have to give them something to do.”
Emmanuelle heaved a sigh. “I don’t know how any of you get away with being in this century. Why did you buy the house before your wife arrived, Elie? Did it occur to you she might want to choose her own house with you? It’s kind of a big thing, where a person is going to live for the rest of their life.”
Dario made a little sound of total disgust. “Emme, seriously? A man needs to lay down the law to a woman from the beginning or she thinks she can get away with everything.”
“That is so ridiculous and archaic, Dario. You just say things like that to get a rise out of me. You don’t really believe that.”
He looked up from his phone, his expression deadpan, one eyebrow lifted. “If I ever find a woman, which I won’t, she will do what I say when I say it.”
Emmanuelle might think Dario was joking, but Elie knew he wasn’t. Dario would rule his world with an iron hand. He was all about control. Elie could tell him—just as Val could—that it didn’t always work that way when it came to those you loved, but Dario would have to find that out for himself. Elie didn’t know Dario’s past. He only knew that something very traumatic had taken place that only Valentino was aware of. Whatever it was had shaped Dario into being extremely protective of those he cared for, and a vicious killing machine when it came to their enemies.
“Dario, I swear, if you even look at a friend of mine, I’m going to put a sack over her head,” Emmanuelle threatened.